Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Watching drug manufacturers duke it out over competing products is like watching a tragic comedy - you don't know whether to laugh or to cry. Witness the latest antics in the fight over the wildly profitable market for anti-platelet drugs currently dominated by clopidogrel.

Clopidogrel (Plavix most notably) has been around for years as a first line anti-thrombotic with indications for use in numerous cardiovascular conditions including post-surgically after stent implantation. Given its age it has also been studied extensively and all its warts are well-known.

Most comic is the fight for dominance between clopidogrel and prasugrel. I say comic for one major reason - prasugrel is still under investigation - you can't even get it in the US at this point. But this hasn't stopped the marketers from attempting to pit it against clopidogrel which goes off-patent in 2011.

The latest "hit job" on clopidogrel comes from analysis based on the TRITON-TIMI 38 trial. Researchers dicovered that there are several common gene variants among patients receiving clopidogrel that may reduce its effectiveness thereby increasing the risk of subsequent heart attack, stroke, and mortality. What was conveniently NOT CONCLUDED was whether simply taking more clopidogrel could overcome this reduced response.

Now guess who is a major sponsor of the TRITON-TIMI 38 trial? If you guessed Daiichi Sankyo and Lilly, the two co-developers of prasugrel, you win today's Sherlock Holmes award! Now, do you suppose anybody has studied whether certain gene variants affect the efficaciousness of prasugrel - not yet - but you have to wonder what the folks at Bristol-Meyers (the holder of the Plavix patent) are working on.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love a good fight. Let the druggies battle it out. But as consumers we need to cast a watchful eye over the message. Prasugrel is not even FDA approved yet and there are no long-term studies on it. Who know what warts may pop up. Your genetics may indeed sway you away from clopidogrel one day but don't think it is without its own, at present, hidden warts.

The devil you know may be better than the devil you do not. Of course, here is where I plug informed, self-directed health care programs like Track Your Plaque which offer tangible results in preventing and reversing heart disease. The ONLY real solution is to never need clopidogrel OR prasugrel in the first place!

7
comments:

In the cases of heart attack and cardiac arrest, or any other heart shocks, time sets to be the most crucial factor for the survival of the patient. Sometimes, a little knowledge regarding the immediate actions to be taken may help your near and dear ones to survive in such incidents. Keith Churchwell has extraordinarily explained the pros and cons while handling patient suffering immediate heart attack or cardiac arrest. The response a person takes to treat a victim decides the probability of his/her survival. Its been my personal experience fighting to survive against a heart attack. A quick recognization of your bodily responses may increase your chances of survival. Because of having many heart problems, I was enrolled in a concierge Healthcare program from elite health. I was attacked by a severe heart attack in a party, luckily surrounded by many people. Some of the sudden changes in my body was recognized by me and anticipated immediately. I got a very severe chest pain which was almost unbearable for more than a minute. I got the suspicion that I might be having heart attack, and immediately called my physician on the phone, and explained my condition and its severity. Because of the immediate guidance, I was directed immediately to have an aspirin which I used to carry with me as prescribed by my physician. It was quite a frightening experience for me to face such a heart attack, but somehow I managed to be calm until 911 arrived. I was immediately taken to the nearest hospital, where already my physician were present and have got everything setup according to my medical history. And it was in some matter of seconds that everything was in control. A doctor, who already have the complete knowledge of the medical history and fitness of the person, extra ordinarily ameliorate your recovery process. Hence such a concierge level program from Elite health, helped me a save my life, like many others.

Search engine spiders crawl through the webpage in search of relevant key words and whenever a search is performed, spiders consider those web pages that best match the searched words or phrases. This requires you to research the keywords and phrases thoroughly prior to the chalking out of SEO plan. Google’s Keyword Tool, Wordtracker and Keywordiscovery are some of the popular tools for finding out most relevant keywords for your website.

Under which condition would I consider myself "cured" of Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)?

About This Blog

I am a numbers guy, an engineer, MBA, and for the real numbers geeks, a Six Sigma Black Belt (statistics on steroids). I am also a heart disease sufferer. It took my mother, her brother, and their father. One minute they were alive and symptom free, the next they were dead. No good-byes, just gone. So, I became a heart health activist and resolved that I will die some other way.
This blog is about my journey to save myself and others, unearthing advances and atrocities, separating hope from hype, and delivering the unvarnished truth about curing heart disease, both good and bad.
So, hold on tight. I promise you a hell of a ride!